Tag: Malnutrition

Malnutrition is one of the greatest challenges to health and development in many low- and middle-income countries—it contributes to 45 percent of all deaths in children under the age of five. Like any national challenge, sufficient, sustained funding is needed to address this issue.

Victoria notes that providing treatment in the community has also made caregivers more responsive to health education messages on improving household practices related to hygiene and sanitation, using long-lasting insecticide treated bed nets, and taking children with complications and non-iCCM conditions to the health centers.

Meeting the nutritional needs of young children is a particularly important aspect of global health, as insufficient nutrition during periods of rapid growth, which overlap with the weaning period, can have serious negative effects on health and other life-long outcomes. The long-term solution for solving micronutrient inadequacy is ensuring a sustainable and diverse diet through food-based approaches.

Facing my own challenges with breastfeeding, pumping, and complementary feeding despite a supportive work environment, help from my family, and relatively easy access to healthy food has given me even more respect for the mothers and communities SPRING works with who overcome even greater barriers to making breastfeeding and healthy eating a reality in their lives.

Each year, 3.1 million children die before reaching their fifth birthday due to malnutrition-related causes. On her son’s fifth birthday, nutrition advisor Carrie Hubbell Melgarejo reflects on the factors that helped him ‘survive to five’ in good health.